Mr. Speaker, if the House gives its consent, I move that the 65th report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, presented to the House earlier this day, be concurred in. I presented two reports. This is the report dealing with the membership and associate membership of some committees.

I have a petition signed by more than 50 individuals from my riding of Vancouver Island North. The petitioners are asking parliament to ensure all necessary steps are taken to protect our children from any material promoting child pornography and to make it clear that any such exploitation of children will be met with swift punishment.

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table two petitions. The first bears the signatures of 26 people from the Montreal area. They support the rural route mail couriers, who often earn less than minimum wage, because the right to collective bargaining is denied them.

The petitioners call upon parliament to repeal subsection 13(5) of the Canada Post Corporation Act.

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is signed by 170 people from the Montreal area, in support of Algerian refugee claimants. These claimants are worried by the prospect of being returned to their country, although many have been here for some time.

They are calling upon parliament to look into the possibility of a generalized regularization and of reinstating the moratorium on returning people to Algeria.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to introduce three petitions signed by residents across the country stating their concerns over pressure treated lumber. They pray upon parliament to ban the use of the compounds in pressure treated wood and other products in order to protect our children and communities across the country.

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to present a petition pursuant to Standing Order 36, signed by residents of the Pugwash, Amherst and Oxford area, including Mr. Ted Embree.

These citizens are concerned about the transference of cultural items and heritage items that reflect our history and are being sold to the United States, especially because of the low value of our dollar. The petitioners ask the government to draft legislation to identify and protect these cultural items.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 I have the privilege to present to the House a petition with 80 signatures from concerned constituents in my riding of Cambridge.

My constituents wish to draw to the attention of the House that the creation and use of child pornography is condemned by a clear majority of Canadians and that the courts have not applied the current child pornography provisions in a clear and decisive fashion.

Therefore, the petitioners call upon parliament to take all the necessary steps to protect our children by outlawing all materials that promote or glorify child pornography.

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present to the House a petition which is in both official languages. It is from 400 or 500 Canadians who ask that parliament urge the Government of Canada to request that the United Kingdom return the Parthenon marbles to Greece.

The petitioners ask that every effort be made to have the Parthenon marbles, which were removed from Greece almost 200 years ago without the consent of the Greek people, returned to Greece, the country of their origin, prior to the 2004 Olympic Games, which will be hosted by Greece as the 28th Olympiad.

Mr. Speaker, according to Standing Order 36, I have a number of petitions here, with 600 signatures drawn from the Kitchener area of Ontario.

These signatories draw the attention of the House to the following: they believe that the majority of Canadians respect the sanctity of human life. They also contend that human life at the pre-born stage is not protected by Canadian society. They pray upon parliament to act immediately to extend protection to the unborn child by amending the criminal code to extend the same protection enjoyed by born human beings to unborn human beings.

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to present to you and to the House a petition from a unique part of Saskatchewan, a little town that is celebrating its 100th birthday this year.

These people, with a few signatures from elsewhere in the province, are pleading with the courts and claiming that the courts have not applied the current child pornography law in a way which makes it clear that such exploitation of children will always be met by swift punishment.

I am very pleased to read this to the House. I do hope that we have a response to the petition.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to present two petitions. The first one has signatories from Kelowna and Winnipeg. They call upon parliament to protect our children by taking all steps necessary to ensure that all materials that promote or glorify pedophilia or sado-masochistic activities involving children be outlawed.

The second petition has signatories from Kelowna, St. Albert and Calgary. The petitioners draw parliament's attention to the fact that they want immediate invocation of section 33 of the charter, the notwithstanding clause, to override the judgment of Duncan Shaw, the same judge who in 1999 erred in his decision that the child pornography law was unconstitutional, and second, the amendment of the child pornography section of the criminal code by deleting the term artistic merit.

The first petition calls upon parliament to protect our children by taking the necessary steps to ensure that all materials which promote or glorify pedophilia or sado-masochistic activities involving children are outlawed, because the petitioners believe that the courts at present have not applied the child pornography law in an appropriate way.

Mr. Speaker, the second petition signed by residents of Canada draws attention to the fact that hundreds of thousands of Canadians suffer from debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer's, diabetes, cancer and so on. Because Canadians support ethical stem cell research, the petitioners call upon parliament to focus its legislative support on adult stem cell research to find the cures and therapies necessary to treat the illnesses and diseases of suffering Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, the third petition is similar in vein.

The petitioners make the point that it is harmful to destroy some human beings in order to benefit others. Whereas adult stem cell research holds enormous potential, they ask that the Parliament of Canada reconsider its position and define embryonic research as an unacceptable practice in the act respecting assisted human reproduction which was introduced in the House of Commons on Thursday, May 9.

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition signed by 70 people from my home province of Alberta. The petitioners believe the strength of the nation is in the strength of the family. Therefore the individuals respectfully request that parliament amend the criminal code to prohibit any type of performance, including those in live peep shows, in any form or manner.

Mr. Speaker, it gives me pleasure to table, pursuant to Standing Order 36, a petition from my constituents in Queensport, Guysborough County, Isaacs Harbour, Boylston, Erinville, Sunnyville and many communities who are expressing concern yet again about the fishery.

Their names join the rolls of hundreds if not thousands of constituents who are calling on the government to address the crisis in the fishery, in particular with respect to what has happened in Canso, Nova Scotia with the refusal of the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to grant access to the resource as he has done in communities throughout Atlantic Canada.

The people of Canso fully want to be participants in the economy. They want to have an opportunity to work, stay and live in their communities. The need is there. There is a larger crisis looming with respect to the failure of NAFTA and Canada's failure to preserve our offshore fishing rights.

I hope the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans will take the concerns seriously and address them in the very near future.

Geoff ReganLiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

I am informed that the chief of staff in the Prime Minister’s Office has been assigned a government vehicle and driver. There are no other government vehicles or drivers assigned to staff in all other ministers’ offices.